"Competitors such as Sony and Lenovo have earned their management expertise over decades, and it isn’t clear whether Xiaomi is prepared for international success only three years after introducing its first smartphone, he said."

CAN'T FIND A PHONE AT THE 1999 ADVERTISED PRICE ... ALWAYS MARKED UP SEVERAL HUNDRED KUAI

"The thing that stood out about him was that he was academically extremely talented," she added, describing him as "very, very ambitious".

View gallery People walk in front of the entrance to the Hong Kong tower block where British banker Rurik Jutting … Classmates also remembered him as intensely athletic, having been a member of the prestigious rowing club at Cambridge.

"He was a tough guy. He had a rower mentality of pushing himself," said one former Winchester pupil. "A classic banker, I guess."

Another Winchester classmate described him as "clever but socially awkward".

"A home could be in the best school district in the top neighborhood of any town, but if it’s on a busy street, across from a commercial center, next to a school or near a freeway on or off-ramp, that home’s value will always be significantly less than the values of comparable homes nearby. "